


The Song Remains the Same

by debirlfan



Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: Gen, not quite a ghost story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 08:46:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2342330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/debirlfan/pseuds/debirlfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sheldon is gone.  Or is he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Song Remains the Same

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Missy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/gifts).



> For Missy, for GenFicSwap. Hope you enjoy.

Despite Sheldon's absence, the apartment he shared with Leonard still served as the focal point of their little group. The boys and their respective mates were scattered around the apartment; Leonard and Penny were on the sofa while Raj sat alongside on the floor, Bernie was seated in the stuffed chair with Howard perched on its arm, and Amy had pulled up a chair from behind Leonard's desk. It was Wednesday night, and they were eating Chinese, but they were all just picking at their food.

"This feels wrong. It's Wednesday. Wednesday is pizza night. We always go to the comic book store and then we eat pizza and play Halo. We shouldn't be eating Chinese," Raj said, poking at a piece of chicken with his chopstick.

Penny sighed. She'd been trying very hard to ignore the little voice that was whispering in her ear, insisting upon much the same thing. "Nobody's going to be going to the comic book store unless and until Stuart rebuilds, and from what I've been hearing about him and Howard's mother, I don't expect that to be any time soon." She ignored the way Howard cringed at that. She wasn't very sympathetic toward Howard. Having met his mother, if anything, Penny rather pitied Stuart. "We can eat whatever we want, whenever we want. We can play Scrabble, we can watch silly reality shows, we can even whistle and light candles. Sheldon isn't here. He's on a train, hundreds of miles away. We can do anything we want," Penny added with a certainty she didn't feel. If she repeated it often enough, she hoped she might come to believe it.

Amy side-eyed her across the table. "So, you're saying we can we sit wherever we want?" It sounded suspiciously like a challenge.

Penny glanced to her left, acutely aware of the empty spot on the sofa beside her. Sheldon's spot. Setting her glass of wine down on the table, she slid over to the end of the couch. It didn't feel right, but she wasn't about to admit it. "Yeah, we can sit wherever we want." She patted the center cushion. "Get over here, Leonard."

Leonard did as he'd been told, and as soon as he'd moved, Raj rose and claimed the far end of the sofa, settling into the cushions with a satisfied sigh. 

They ate in silence for a few minutes, before Leonard abruptly set his take-out container down on the coffee table. "I stopped at the Korean market for the good hot mustard," he admitted.

Howard shrugged. "Hey, it's the good mustard. That's not just Sheldon's opinion. We all like it."

"Yeah, but I also got low sodium soy sauce. And nobody likes that." 

Nobody but Sheldon, Penny almost added. "Force of habit. You've been buying that crap for years," she said, instead.

"As long as we've been eating Chinese. Ever since Sheldon went online and found the health department review of the Greek place we'd been ordering from." Leonard frowned. "I still miss their gyros, even if they didn't have proper hand washing facilities."

"Good thing Sheldon never looked up the Cheesecake Factory," Penny muttered under her breath.

"Hmm?" Leonard asked.

"Nothing." Even though she didn't work there any more, she still enjoyed their desserts, and didn't want the restaurant ending up on Sheldon's banned list.

"He's still here, isn't he?" Bernadette asked, the pitch of her voice creeping higher as she continued, "His body may be off riding the rails somewhere, but he's still here. It's like having a ghost. I keep expecting the furniture to start moving around by itself and people's heads to start spinning." As she said the last, her hand went to the cross hanging from the chain around her neck.

"What about you, Amy?" Penny asked, hoping to distract Bernadette before she could suggest an exorcism. "You must miss Sheldon?"

Amy shrugged. "We Skype. I talk to him as much now as I did when he was here. We even tried having dinner together one night, but the way the camera picked up the train's motion made me nauseous."

Penny smothered a snort. It was good to know that romance wasn't dead. "So what is he doing, anyhow?"

"He hasn't really said. Every time I talk to him, he's on the train. He seems to be enjoying himself, though." 

Leonard laughed. "Of course he's enjoying himself. He's on a train, and they've even got wifi. What more could Sheldon possibly want?"

The others mumbled and nodded their agreement. In the silence that followed, Penny picked up her glass, only to find it empty. She reached for the open bottle of wine and topped off the others' glasses, then refilled her own. She considered it for a moment, then raised her glass. "I'd like to make a toast."

She paused as they looked at her expectantly. "To Sheldon, who's boldly going. . . well, somewhere."

They clinked glasses all around, as Penny considered just how much the object of their toast would complain about that. It was weird. He was there, and yet he wasn't. Maybe Bernie was right, and he had become some sort of living ghost.

The thought sent an odd shiver running up her spine, one that wrapped itself around her and refused to let go. She squirmed, trying to shake the feeling and get comfortable, despite the cushion beneath her suddenly feeling as if it had turned to stone. Damn it, this was ridiculous.

She lasted perhaps five minutes, just long enough for her to polish off the remainder of her wine and to reach over and snag Leonard's half empty glass, gulping that down as well. Finally, she elbowed Leonard in the ribs.

He turned his head to peer at her in confusion, undoubtedly thinking that he had done something wrong. "Penny?"

Another nudge with her elbow. "Move over."

Leonard looked at her oddly, but finally turned to Raj. "Sorry."

Raj shrugged. "Easy come, easy go." He lowered himself back down to where he'd been sitting earlier in the evening.

As Leonard moved, Penny shifted herself back to the center of the couch. She noted that almost immediately, the apartment felt warmer. "So," she asked, remembering the rest of Sheldon's Wednesday night schedule, "Who wants to play Halo?"


End file.
